Sun roof cover for a roof opening in a motor vehicle roof

ABSTRACT

A sliding roof cover for the roof opening of a motor vehicle roof which is supported to be moved along and be raised on guide rails which run lengthwise on either side of the roof opening. The sliding cover including a bearing on each guide rail having a front and a rear swiveling guide arrangement for raising or lowering the front edge and/or rear edge section of the cover when opening or closing the cover, and the two swiveling arrangements being coupled to one another. Each swiveling guide arrangement has a swiveling arm coupled to the cover and two guide elements which are spaced apart from one another and are movably supported on a guideway located on the roof-mounted guide rail. The two guide elements of each swiveling arm are guided in a deflection section of the guideway such that they swivel the swiveling arms for lifting or lowering the front or rear section of the cover.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a sliding roof cover for the roof opening of amotor vehicle roof which is supported to be able to move and be raisedon guide rails which run lengthwise on either side of the roof opening,the bearing means of the cover on each guide rail having a front and arear swiveling means for lifting or lowering the cover on its front edgeor its rear edge when opening or closing the cover, and the twoswiveling means being coupled to one another.

2. Description of the Related Art

FR-A-2 679 174 (corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,461) discloses onesuch sliding roof cover with a bearing means which has on each side ofthe roof opening a front swiveling arm and a rear swiveling arm whichare each connected to the cover by a first swiveling means which ispointed towards the vehicle interior and which are connected to theguide means by a second swiveling means which is pointed towards theoutside of the vehicle in order to guide the cover forward or backward,the first and the second swiveling means being made such thatdisplacement of the second swiveling means over a short distance out ofthe position in which the swiveling means is located with the coverclosed results in the rear swiveling arm being swiveled and raising therear section of the cover and thus moving the cover into itspartially-opened position.

In the bearing means of FR-A-2 679 174, both the front and the rearswiveling arm are connected via three cams, which are each displaced inan appropriate guide groove a guide rail which is permanently attachedon the movable cover. The grooves are made such that the swivelingmotion of the front swiveling arms take place independently of theswiveling motion of the rear swiveling arms, in order to raise the rearsection of the guide rails and thus the rear section of the cover beforethe forward section of the cover so that the cover travels into itspartially-opened position. The bearing means of this cover thus containsindividual components of relatively complex structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to devise a generic sliding roof coverwith a bearing means which has a simple structure, which operatesreliably, and which can be easily installed on the motor vehicle roof.

The object is achieved in a generic sliding roof cover of the inventionby providing front and rear swiveling means where each swiveling meanshas a swiveling arm coupled to the cover. Each swiveling arm in turn isprovided with two guide elements which are spaced apart from one anotherand which are movably supported on a guideway which is located on theroof-mounted guide rail and are guided in a deflection section of theguideway such that they swivel each swiveling arm for lifting orlowering the either front or rear cover section.

This sliding roof cover has a simple and very reliable structure sinceeach swiveling arm has two guide elements which fit into the sameguideway and it is connected to the cover by a single journal. One suchbearing means can be used with both a motorized cover and also a coverwhich is actuated by hand with a handle.

Preferably, the rear guideway is constructed and the second guideelement is located on the rear swiveling arm such that a slightdisplacement of the first guide element in the direction to the rearcauses swiveling of the rear swiveling arm, by which the rear coversection is raised and the cover is moved into its partially openedposition. The course of the guideway thus determines the swivelingbehavior of the swiveling arm. Feasibly, the rear guideway for the rearswiveling arm has a forward deflection section which is curved, forexample concavely, and rises preferably in the manner of a parabola.However, other curvatures of the guideway of the deflection section canbe provided to establish a special dynamic behavior.

When the radius of curvature of the concavely curved forward deflectionsection of the rear guideway increases toward the rear, the initialdisplacement of the rear swiveling arm causes the rear swiveling arm tofirst clearly be swiveled or raised. As the rear swiveling arm continuesto move, the swiveling motion decreases continuously until the swivelingarm has assumed a uniform swiveled setting.

In a particular space-saving and simple configuration, the front guideelement is guided in the deflection section of the rear guideway whenthe rear swiveling arm swivels,.

A particularly preferred embodiment of the sliding roof cover isillustrated in which each swiveling arm on its forward end has a journalwhich projects toward the vehicle interior and which can be swiveledrelative to the cover, and on its back end has a rear guide elementwhich projects towards the outside of the motor vehicle and which fitsinto a guideway attached to the motor vehicle roof, and a second forwardguide element which projects toward the outside of the vehicle and whichis located between the journal and the rear guide element and fits intothe same guideway as the rear guide element.

When the forward guide element of the rear swiveling arm is locatedcloser to the rear guide element than the coupling element, e.g., ajournal for the cover, motion in the deflection section achievesmultiplication of the raising motion.

For an arrangement which saves installation space, it is possible forthe front guide element to be located underneath a line which connectsthe journal to the rear guide element. This can result in the rearswiveling arm being essentially horizontal when the cover is in itsclosed position.

In another preferred embodiment, the front guideway when viewed from itsfront end, has a deflection section with a first section which is curvedroughly concavely and thereafter has a second section which ispreferably curved roughly convexly so that the front edge of the coverexecutes a corresponding motion which first raises it and then lowers itagain.

When the second guide element of the front swiveling arm is locatedcloser to the journal than the first guide element and particularly whennear the line which connects the journal to the first guide element, theswiveling motion of the swiveling arm follows the path of the guidewayin the deflection section with virtually no multiplication of themotion.

In still another embodiment, the sliding roof cover has a drive meansconnected to the cover. Since the cover is driven directly, therequirement of a comparatively complex linkage of the drive means to oneof the swiveling means is obviated.

Other details and advantages of the invention result from the followingdescription of one embodiment with reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows in a vertical lengthwise section two partial views of amotor vehicle roof with a sliding roof cover, the cover being shown insolid lines in its closed position and in broken lines in itspartially-opened position;

FIG. 2 shows, in a view similar to FIG. 1, a forward swiveling arm and arear swiveling arm located on the front and rear guideways of a lateralguide rail;

FIG. 3 shows, in a view comparable to FIG. 2, the front swiveling armand a rear swiveling arm in the position after slight displacement tothe rear along the guideways;

FIG. 4 shows, in a schematic view in four successive positions, thefront part of the cover which passes out of its closed position into itspartially opened position and further into its open position;

FIG. 5 shows, in a partial view comparable to FIG. 1, the rear sectionof the cover in solid lines in its closed position and in broken linesits open position; and

FIG. 6 shows schematically in a perspective plan view a partial view ofthe cover with a guide rail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A movable cover 1 of a sliding roof on a motor vehicle, which is capableof being opened, is shown in its closed position with solid lines (seeFIG. 1) such that the movable cover closes a roof opening 2 which isformed in the motor vehicle roof 3. In the closed position, the frontcover section 4 compresses a front seal 5 and a rear cover section 6compresses a rear seal 7 which are for example formed as tube seals. Thefront and rear seals 5 and 7 are shown in their uncompressed state. Onthe side edges of the roof opening 2 are lateral seals which are notshown.

The cover 1 can be pushed in the lengthwise direction 8 of the motorvehicle from the front to the back towards the rear part of the motorvehicle roof and upon doing so passes out of the position shown by solidlines in FIG. 1 into the position shown in the same FIG. 1 by brokenlines. In that rearward position, the rear cover section 6 is raisedover the roof 3, while the front cover section 4 adjoins the front seal5 in order to prevent flow of the wind into the vehicle interior at highdriving speed and thus prevents the resulting noise.

When the cover 1 is pushed further to the rear in direction 8, the frontcover section 4 is raised over the front seal 5 and the entire cover 1is moved to the rear into its open position shown schematically in FIG.5, in which the cover 1 is located above the motor vehicle roof 3.

In the opposite lengthwise direction 9 of the motor vehicle (from theback to the front on the motor vehicle roof 3), the cover 1 movessuccessively out of its open position back into the partially openedposition and finally into its closed position as shown in FIG. 1.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the cover 1 on each side of themotor vehicle roof 3 has a bearing means 10 with a front swiveling arm11 and a rear swiveling arm 12 each of which are connected to the cover1 by a first guide arrangement which is pointed toward the vehicleinterior and by a second guide arrangement which is pointed toward theoutside of the motor vehicle. Each swiveling arm is guided to the frontin direction 9 or to the rear in direction 8 to move the cover 1. Sincethere are bearing and guide means which are each identical on the rightand the left side of the cover 1, only one of these bearing and guidemeans are shown and described.

The first and second guide arrangement are arranged and guided such thatdisplacement of the second guide arrangement a short distance to therear in the direction 8 from a closed position of the cover 1 results inthe rear swiveling arm 12 being swiveled up and in this way raises therear cover section 6 and moves the cover 1 into its partially openposition.

The rear swiveling arm 12 can be swiveled in the vertical lengthwiseplane of the motor vehicle roof 3, and on its front end 13 has a journal14 which forms the first guide arrangement which projects transverselyin the direction toward the vehicle interior and is pivotally mounted onthe cover 1. The rear swiveling arm 12 has on its back end 15 a secondguide arrangement which contains a first guide element 16 which projectstransversely in the direction to the outside of the motor vehicle andfits into a rear guideway 17 of the guide rail 43 which is located onthe motor vehicle roof 3 (see FIG. 6). A second guide element 18 of thesecond guide arrangement, which similarly projects transversely in thedirection to the outside of the motor vehicle, is located between thejournal 14 and the first guide element 16 and fits into the same rearguideway 17 of the guide rail 43 and the first guide element 16. Theguide elements 16 and 18 are formed for example as guide fingers, butcan also be sliding or rolling elements or the like.

The rear guideway 17 is formed with an initial deflection section 27 andthe second guide element 18 is attached to the rear swiveling arm 12such that a slight displacement of the first guide element 16 in thebackwards direction 8 leads to swiveling of the rear swiveling arm 12 sothat the rear cover section 6 is raised and the cover 1 is moved intoits partially opened position.

As is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rear guideway 17, proceeding from itsforward end 17 a, has a curved deflection section 27 which has acurvature which rises, as an example, essentially parabolically. Thecurved deflection section 27, preferably having a radius of curvaturewhich becomes larger with increasing movement in the backwards direction8, becomes a nearly linear section toward the end of the guideway 17(see FIGS. 2 and 6).

In the embodiment shown, the second guide element 18 is located on therear swiveling arm 12 closer to the first guide element 16 than thejournal 14 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) so that relative movement of the journal14 and the second guide element 18 relative to the first guide element16 is increased in a ratio which corresponds to the ratio of therespective lengths of the swivel arms. Furthermore, the second guideelement 18 is located underneath a straight line 44 which connects thejournal 14 to the first guide element 16. With this structure, theresult is that the rear swiveling arm 12 lies essentially horizontalwhen the cover 1 has assumed its closed position shown in FIG. 2. Inthis embodiment, the installation height of the entire bearing means 10is minimized. The slight displacement of the first guide element 16 inthe direction 8 to the rear leads to displacement of the axis 19 of thejournal 14 out of its initial position 19 a along the line 20, indicatedby the broken line in FIG. 3, so that the rear cover section 6 israised.

The front swiveling arm 11 is in the same lengthwise vertical plane ofthe motor vehicle roof 3 and on its front end 21 bears a journal 22which forms the first guide arrangement projecting transversely towardthe vehicle interior and is pivotally mounted on the cover 1. The frontswiveling arm 11 furthermore bears on its back end 23 a second guidearrangement having a first guide element 24 which, like the rearswiveling arm 12, projects transversely in the direction toward theoutside of the motor vehicle and fits into an assigned front guideway 25of the guide rail 43 which is attached to the motor vehicle roof 3. Thesecond guide arrangement of the front swiveling arm 11 moreover bears asecond guide element 26 which projects transversely in the directiontoward the outside of the motor vehicle, and is located between thejournal 22 and the first guide element 24 and is movably held in thesame front guideway 25 as the first guide element 24. The guide elements24 and 26 can for example be made as guide fingers.

The front guideway 25, proceeding from its front end 25 a, contains adeflection section having a first section 28 which is roughly concavelycurved, followed by a second section 29 which is preferably roughlyconvexly curved, followed by a third section 30 which is roughlyconcavely curved, and then passes into a guide section which runsessentially parallel to the motor vehicle roof 3.

The second guide element 26 on the front swiveling arm 11 is locatedcloser to the journal 22 than the first guide element 24 and preferablyclose to the line 44 which extends from the journal 22 to the firstguide element 24 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). As a result, each front swivelingarm 11 is essentially horizontal when the cover 1 is in the closedposition. FIG. 3 shows how the axis 31 of the journal 22, proceedingfrom its initial position 31 a, moves along a path 32 which is based onthe described path of the front guideway 25.

With the configurations of the swiveling arms 11 and 12 described above,the front seal 33 which is attached to the front cover section 4 in FIG.4 is shown schematically in four successive different positions 33A,33B, 33C, and 33D, which are assigned to the four successive positionsof the cover 1 moving from its closed position in the backwardsdirection 8.

In the closed position of the cover 1, the seal 33 assumes a position33A in which the seal 33 is pressed against the edge 34 of the roofopening 2. The cover 1 lies in its lower position according to the firstsection 36 of the curve 35 such that the front seal 5 is compressed.

In the first intermediate position 33B, the cover 1 with the seal 33 ismoved back to the rear in the direction 8 and is raised up; thiscorresponds to the second section 37 of the curve 35 in which thecompression of the seal 5 is reduced.

In the position 33C, which corresponds to the partially open position ofthe cover 1, the seal 33 has moved further to the rear in the direction8, but is lowered and exerts increased compressive pressure on the frontseal 5, as is schematically indicated by the section 38 of the curve 35.

In the partially open position of the cover 1, the front cover section 4is pressed securely against the front seal 5 such that sealing occursagainst the flow of air caused by the driving speed of the vehicle. Thefront cover section 4 moreover reaches a sufficiently lowered positionsuch that the occurrence of disturbing wind noise for the passengers isprevented.

Finally, in position 33D, the seal 33 and the front cover section 4 areclearly raised above the seal 5 and the roof 3 in order to at leastpartially clear the roof opening 2; this corresponds to the rearascending section 39 of the curve 35. During the backwards motiondescribed above, the bottom 40 of the cover 1 assumes a succession ofassigned positions 40A, 40B, 40C, and 40D.

FIG. 4 clearly shows that the position 40B of the cover 1 is relativelyhigher than the position of the cover 1 when in partially open position40C, thereby enabling displacement of the cover 1 in the direction 8 tothe rear. During this movement of the cover, the front seal 5 is lessstrongly compressed which facilitates displacement of the cover 1 andprevents damage to the seal 5.

The front seal 5 is located a sufficient distance from the front edge 34of the roof opening 2 so that when seal 33 is in the position 33C, whichcorresponds to the partially open position of the cover 1, the bottom 40of the cover in its position 40C which still adequately compresses thefront seal 5 to achieve the aforementioned sealing against wind noise.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, the first guide element 16 ofthe rear swiveling arm 12 and the first guide element 24 of the frontswiveling arm 11, when viewed in a lengthwise cross-section, have theshape of a rhombus which provides improved flat guidance of theswiveling arms 11 and 12 in the guideways 17 and 25. This rhombus shapeis easily formed as a cap 41 which is situated on and encompasses theend of core 42 of the first guide elements 16 and 24.

If the cover 1 is actuated using a handle (not shown) and the handle ispushed to the rear, the slight displacement motion of the cover 1 istransferred immediately to the rear swiveling arm 12, by the journal 14,which is swiveled upward by the walls of the rear guideway 17 as aresult of the guidance of the first guide element 16 and the secondguide element 18.

The cover 1 can be moved by means of a motorized drive (not shown) whichdrives the rear swiveling arm 12 and/or the front swiveling arm 11 bymeans of driving carriages (not shown) which are pivotally connectednear the axes of the first guide elements 16, 24 to the swiveling arms11, 12.

Preferably, however, the drive cable 46 of a drive means for moving thecover 1 is connected to the cover (see FIG. 6). Thus, the bearing meansof the cover 1 mounted on the respective guide rail 43 contains only thefront and rear swiveling arms 11 and 12. Other components are notnecessary, so that an especially simple structure is made possible. inthe embodiment in which a drive cable is attached to a driving carriagewhich is supported on the lateral guide rail 43, water can collect inthe guide rail or in a gutter, which is located outside the edge-sideseal of the roof opening, and can seep along the drive cable to thedrive motor. However, the configuration shown in FIG. 6, in which theguide rail 43 is separate from the drive means, has a simpler structureand contains essentially only the two guideways 17 and 25 therebyavoiding the problem of water seepage. The guide rail 43 illustrated isconstructed with sunken guideways 17 and 25 and is composed of, forexample, steel or aluminum.

Due to the differently configured deflection sections of the guideways17, 25, different motion sequences of the front edge and of the rearedge of the cover 1 can be set. Thus, for example, the front guideway 25can have a front, initially downwardly leading deflection section suchthat the front cover section 4 is lowered into the ventilation positionbefore is moved horizontally or somewhat ascendingly to the rear.

What is claimed is:
 1. Sliding roof cover for the roof opening of amotor vehicle roof capable of being moved along and raised on guiderails which run lengthwise on each side of the roof opening comprising,a bearing means on each side of the roof opening which cooperates with arespective one of the guide rails and includes a front and a rearswiveling means for raising a front edge and a rear edge of the coverwhen opening the cover from a closed position, and for lowering thefront edge and the rear edge of the cover when lowering the cover backto said closed position after opening thereof, wherein the front andrear swiveling means, at each side of the roof opening, are coupled toone another by a respective guideway which produces a synchronizedmovement of the front and rear swiveling means, and each swiveling meansincludes a swiveling arm coupled to the cover wherein each swiveling armincludes first and second guide elements which are spaced apart from oneanother and which are movably supported on said respective guideway andare guided along a deflection section of the respective guideway suchthat the swiveling arms are swiveled for raising or lowering the frontedge and rear edge of the cover.
 2. Sliding roof cover as set forth inclaim 1, wherein a rear guideway is provided on each of the guide railsto cooperate with the second guide element located on the respectiveswiveling arm located at the rear of the cover in order that a smalldisplacement of the first guide element in the direction toward the rearresults in raising the second guide element and swiveling of the rearswiveling arm by which the rear edge of the cover is raised and thecover is moved into a partially opened position.
 3. Sliding roof coveras set forth in claim 2, wherein the rear guideway for the rearswiveling arm has a forward deflection section comprising a downwardfacing concave curve which rises in the shape of a parabola.
 4. Slidingroof cover as set forth in claim 3, wherein the radius of curvature ofthe concave curve of the forward deflection section increases toward therear.
 5. Sliding roof cover as set forth in claim 1, wherein the secondguide element is guided in a deflection section of the rear guidewaywhen a rear swiveling arm swivels.
 6. Sliding roof cover as set forth inclaim 1, wherein each swiveling arm includes a journal on the front endof the swiveling arm which projects toward the vehicle interior and isconnected to the cover wherein the journal can be swiveled relative tothe cover, the first guide element located on the rear end of theswiveling arm which projects towards the outside of the motor vehicleand fits into the guideway on the guide rail, and the second guideelement located between the journal and the first guide element of theswiveling arm which projects toward the outside of the vehicle and fitsinto the same guideway as the first guide element.
 7. Sliding roof coveras set forth in claim 6, wherein the second guide element is locatedcloser to the rear guide element than the journal.
 8. Sliding roof coveras set forth in claim 7, wherein the second guide element is locatedunderneath a straight line which extends through the journal and firstguide element.
 9. Sliding roof cover as set forth in claim 7, whereinthe rear swiveling arm is positioned in substantially a horizontalposition when the cover is in a closed position.
 10. Sliding roof coveras set forth in claim 1, wherein a front guideway is provided on each ofthe guide rails such that when proceeding to the rear, the frontguideway has a deflection section comprising initially a downward facingconcave curved section and subsequently a downward facing convex curvedsection.
 11. Sliding roof cover as set forth in claim 6, wherein thesecond guide element of each front swiveling arm is positionedapproximate a straight line which extends through the journal and firstguide element.
 12. Sliding roof cover as set forth in claim 11, whereineach front swiveling arm is positioned in substantially a horizontalposition when the cover is in a closed position.
 13. Sliding roof coveras set forth in claim 1, wherein each first guide element has a crosssection in the shape of a rhombus.
 14. Sliding roof cover as set forthin claim 1, wherein a drive means is connected to the cover.